What Next | Trump’s South Africa Fixation

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Slate Podcasts

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Among his recent executive orders, Donald Trump moved to halt aid to South Africa over a land law and extended political asylum to South Africa’s white Afrikaner population. Where does Trump’s seemingly spotty understanding of South Africa come from? How could having close advisors who grew up in apartheid-era South Africa, like Elon Musk, influence him? Guest: Chris McGreal, writer for The Guardian US who reported from South Africa during the end of apartheid. Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Rob Gunther, and Ethan Oberman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Peggy 16.
0:02.0	My name is Paul Heyman, special counsel to Roman Raines and the Bloodlines Wise Man.
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0:36.2	In an administration that has spent its first month signing one mystifying executive order after another,
0:42.4	the order Donald Trump signed last week concerning South Africa stands out.
0:48.3	Now, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to cut financial assistance to South
0:54.6	Africa.
0:55.6	This order had a couple of parts.
0:58.1	One was a funding cut that no one is sure will actually happen.
1:01.7	But then, the really surprising thing.
1:05.1	Yes, the executive order does the astonishing thing of giving political asylum to South Africa's white minority Afrikaner population
1:13.4	at a time when actually political asylum in the United States been cut off to just about
1:18.1	everybody else.
1:19.6	Chris McGreel writes for the Guardian U.S., but he used to live in Johannesburg, report there.
1:25.4	He was as shocked by this order as I was.
1:28.5	But he says, maybe neither of us should have been.
1:32.1	We've got an exclusive investigation for you tonight.
1:34.8	Donald Trump has been worried about whites in South Africa since his first administration,
1:39.8	when he caught a segment on Tucker Carlson's show.
1:43.3	The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, has begun, and you may have seen this in the press,
	...

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